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A lot of negativity posted on this by a lot of people, including myself, just to be negative.

But here's why I (and I bet many others) really dislike this: it tightly couples purchasing everyday things to Amazon.

What would be better?

I would have rather seen a third party come out with these little buttons, with an open API such that they could be connected to things like:

- Todo/grocery list apps that adds the item as a reminder the next time I run to the store

- Tech savy B&M grocery stores that I could place an order for easy pick-up

- Online sites -- including Amazon -- where I could place an easy order

This would have me excited. This would allow others to benefit, and me to have more choices.

But as it is, if this is successful, then it means people are even more bound to Amazon than ever before.

5 comments

I think this is just utopian thinking...

Of course that would be amazing if it had any chance of ever existing, but it's just not possible in the society today.

Companies with money will build stuff and lock you in, and companies trying to unify everything either don't have the money or don't get the big players in, because they're not interested in shared markets, they much prefer monopoly.

The same thing happens in messaging, music, OSes, video content, etc.

It's the unfortunate truth of current times.

If it's any consolation, Amazon leading on this technology will make it much easier for people to raise money for any of the ventures you listed.

This. Dash removes any type of "shopping" from the conversation.

Platform lock in for consumables. My bet is they'll just give them away on the containers themselves to get you to use it.

Or just start mailing them at random a la AOL.

I would be SO okay with this.

These things will probably come in every box of washing powder, or cereal, or whatever, in the future. Then you can paste them all onto your fridge, from various brands and vendors.

Buttons? Where we're going, we don't need buttons.

What would be better? I would have rather seen a third party come out with these little buttons, with an open API such that they could be connected to things like: - Todo/grocery list apps that adds the item as a reminder the next time I run to the store

This is exactly what I was thinking. I think the core idea is actually pretty good- a seamless way to remember to get stuff you need at the time you realize you need it. One of the major pain points for shoppers is keeping track of all the crap you need at the time you are at the store. If you could continuously add to the list and then the grocery stores had some kind of integration with their loyalty program so it knew when you had purchased what was on your list and automatically removed it, that would be a huge time-saver. Even if it just synced to a todo list, that would be really nice.

However, there are two things that I think would prevent this from becoming a game-changer for Amazon. First, most shoppers are extraordinarily price-sensitive when it comes to household goods. Wal-Mart is a $270 billion company precisely because of this. Most people like to comparison shop based largely on price. If the concept of price is completely hidden from view until after the purchase is made, you are trading transparency for ease-of-use. There is certainly a market for this, but not the largest share of it.

Second, as long as there are other things that shoppers have to get at the grocery (namely, groceries), I believe that most will opt to wait until they go next time since they have to go anyway. This product doesn't solve the problem of instant-gratification and having the product at the time you need it, it just makes it a little easier to order it when you need it.

> Most people like to comparison shop based largely on price.

Amazon, and many others, are betting this is increasingly less true, and not only that, but price discrimination is the most important profit maximizing method in the world. These are price discrimination buttons.

I don't think you can really make that claim considering that Walmart has been profitable since its beginnings and Amazon hasn't been profitable in about ten years. What makes you think that now is the time for a change in consumer behavior that has shown itself not to exist to this point in time?